you to take your Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 20. Proverbs chapter
20. Proverbs 20 verse 14. You know the Lord said while
you're turning there you have not because you ask not. I pray God bless the message
tonight. Brother Donnie, he comes up in a few minutes. You know, we ask. I heard Brother Henry say one
time, he said, I've got a set of notes here. And he said, I'm
convinced they're scripturally sound. But if the Spirit of God
doesn't bless them, they're just words. We've got now. That's all we've got, y'all.
We've got right now. This may be the last time that
we ever meet together. I don't know. But if it is, may
the Lord be blessed. May He bless our hearts. That
we might rest in Him. Tonight I'd like to just speak
to a few, do you for a few minutes on this subject, the price of
a man's soul. Proverbs chapter 20 verse 14,
the Scriptures declare, It is not, it is not, saith the buyer,
but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. Now what that scripture just
set forth. Now, the thing about the book
of Proverbs is that it's always easily understood, humanly speaking. It's always got, it's always
some good advice. It's always the truth of the
way things really are, you know. And man by nature You can read
this. Let me tell you what this just
said. This is every one of us by nature. You don't have to raise your
hand, but just ask this question to yourself. Is this the way
I am? This is what this says right
here. It's talking about a buyer. It is not, it is not, saith the
buyer. Someone's got something for sale. car, boat, got something for
sale. And they're asking a price. And
somebody is interested in buying it. And it doesn't matter what
the price is, but as soon as you hear the price, the buyer
says, not, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, you've got that, Way,
way overpriced. You're asking $5,000 for that
car. I mean, look at the tires. I
mean, that thing's got a scratch. Look at this fender. To be honest
with you, in my mind, I had $3,500 in my mind. Now, that's what
he's saying. It is not, sayeth the buyer.
When he's gone his way, then he boasteth. He's got this in his mind. It's
a game. And since the buyer who believes
himself to be shrewd enough to get the item at his cost, if he's able to get it at his
cost, then what he's done is he's conquered the seller. And then the scripture says when
he's gone his way, he boasted. Calls his friends together. I
want you all to come here and look at this car I bought. This
thing's a cream puff. And I got it. You're not going
to believe the deal. I mean, I had the guy in the
palm of my hand as soon as I met him. That's what it's saying.
It is not, it is not, sayeth the buyer when he's gone his
way, he boasted. I got him. I got him. Now listen, that is the way every
one of us, that's the way we are. We want a deal. I want a deal. I want to make
myself at least feel like I have gotten something at a better
price than what the seller was asking. But the only sad part
about this is that man, while he thinks that way naturally
concerning trivial things, things that are passing, let me tell
you what he also thinks. By nature, he thinks that salvation
is had that way also. He thinks that salvation is a
negotiable blessing that's offered from God and is available to
the man who is willing to make a deal. Now I'm going to show
you this in a minute. He thinks that Almighty God is
offering something and that He being the purchaser
of this salvation is able to negotiate. Now, some will say
that the way that you do it is, you know, it's always by works. I mean, it's either by a man
being baptized, walking down the aisle, praying through, speaking
in tongues, belonging to this certain denomination. It's always
something, but what it is, is man says, I can do my part in
response to what God's offering, and then both of us will come
out the winner. He thinks that salvation is for
sale, and that man possesses the ability to buy at his price. What do you think you're willing
to pay? Now, I've got three points. Here's
my first point. There is a price for man's salvation. There is a price. Now, let me
tell you what the price is. This is according to God's Word. Now, here again, if we're not
going to go by what God has to say, well then, we're just wasting
our time. what does the Lord have to say
now you listen to the price of salvation Leviticus 18 5 you
shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments which if a man
do he shall live in them I am the Lord now here is the terms
for life Here's the terms for acceptance of God. Now you listen
to this question from the scripture, Psalm 24, verses 3 to 5. Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand
in his holy place? Now here, who can, here's who
can do it. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. Know what that means? He that
is free from any defilement, who shall stand in the hill of
the Lord? I tell you, he who has no guilt, none. Who hath
not lifted up his soul unto vanity, not lifted up his soul. That
means that he has never desired one time anything that is worthless
or vain. Never, never. He shall receive
the blessings from the Lord and righteousness from the God of
his salvation. Man reads those. Let me tell
you what every man apart from the grace of God, every man that
has not been regenerated, here's what he's thinking. He foolishly
reasons and says this, those truths cannot be that strict. Listen to Leviticus 11, 44, 45,
For I am the LORD your God, you shall therefore sanctify yourselves,
you shall be holy. You know how strict that is?
God is holy. you shall be holy, for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves
with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth on the earth. I
am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to
be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. In other
words, if a man would be accepted before God, this is all you got
to do. All you have to do is obey God
perfectly. in every point of God's law,
in thought, in word, in deed. And I want you to remember something
now. Now you just, you know, here's
the price. Here's the price. Holiness. That's the price. Keeping God's
law without any, any infraction, anything. And God Almighty is
the witness And He knows, here's the prize, there is a prize. Whosoever shall keep the whole
law and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all. Here's all
that, you know, not only what you do, but what you should have
done, what you didn't do. So here it is, while you're considering
that you've given your heart to Jesus, I'm saved because I've
executed, you know, acted by faith, and I've come down, and
I've done good as I can do, and here's the price. If you'd have
salvation based on some work that you do, I want you to remember
something. Perfect. Perfect. As Almighty God is holy, and
if there's ever been one infraction before or after your supposed
decision to approach God on your terms. I want you to remember
this one thing. If you've ever offended in one
point, word, thought, deed, no hope. No hope. When Adam disobeyed
God in the garden, the scripture reveals that all mankind died
spiritually. Mankind was plunged into immeasurable
depravity and despair. While you're contemplating whatever
you think you've done, you remember this, man is separated from God
because of sin. And here's what the Lord Jesus
Christ said, no man can, no man has the ability to come unto me, except it were
given unto him of my father. While you're contemplating the
price, remember from the sole of the foot even to the head
there's no soundness in it. Wounds and bruises and putrefying
sores, they've not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified
with ointment. That means from the foot to the
head there's no part. of man, no part, body or spirit,
no part unaffected, no part that's sound, just spiritual wounds
and bruises and dripping sores, nothing can be done to help,
nothing to soften the wounds. And remember, Almighty God looked
and saw that every imagination of a thought of man was evil
continually. Now you remember, now that's
the price. You want to approach God on your
merit, you want to approach God by your work, by your decision,
by your faith, you want to approach God, there's the price. Here's my second point. Man thinks
that price is too high. Man hears the Word of God declaring
that he is a sinner, that he's an unclean thing, that all of
our righteousnesses are his filthy rags, and we all do fade as a
leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
He hears God's Word declaring him to be nothing but a rebel,
and his works are dung. Man brags, he says, that's what
I've done. And they're filthy, stinking
rags. Refuge. And man says, not, not,
no, no, no, no, no. That price is too high. Those terms are ridiculous. You're
asking way more than is reasonable. This is what man says. Salvation
can be had at a cheaper price. Surely there's a little bit of
negotiating room here. Surely there's a little bit of
wiggle room here. Man reads in the Bible that he
claims to believe from cover to cover. You ask people, do
you believe the Bible? Cover to cover. Okay, well, between
the covers, I'm going to tell you this. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done." Do you know how much that includes? Not by works of righteousness
that we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. And man will hear that, and because
he sees himself to be a shrewd operator spiritually, in the next breath, he'll say
this, I don't believe in salvation by works. I believe in salvation totally
by the grace of God. And so therefore, I will exercise
my free will and accept God's gracious offer to be saved. I don't believe in salvation
by works. God offers it, and that grace, and I accept it. And I reach out and take it. That's works. That's works. God offered it and you took it.
Man hears that all the while, ignorantly, believing in salvation
by works. And he says, I accepted, I accepted
by my free will. A will that the scripture says
is bound and trespasses and sins. And the scripture declares which
were born not of blood. I want God Almighty to save my
kids, my grandkids. And if the Lord's been pleased
to show me mercy, if I know him, it's by the grace of God. And
I truly, I want him to save my kids. Don't you? Don't you want him to save yours?
I want to save my grandchildren. I've got 14 grandchildren. I want God to save them, Donnie.
But I can tell you this, if the Lord has been pleased to show
mercy to me, that does not mean that I've got grandchildren that's
going to be saved just because the Lord's shown me mercy. Not
of blood, nor the will of the flesh. My will, nor the will of man,
but of God. Man believes that he can reconcile
himself back to God. He thinks that the price of a
man's soul, what's he going to take? Absolute obedience to God's
law. Man said that too high. You know why he believes that?
Because in the garden, what happened in the garden? Here's what happened in the garden. God told Adam, in the day you
eat of all the fruit but of the fruit of this one tree, one tree. In the day you eat of this fruit,
don't eat of that one. In the day you eat of You're
going to die. And Satan came to Eve, and this
is what he told Eve concerning disobedience. You're not going
to die. You're not going to die. God
is holding out on you. God knows that in the day you
eat of that, you're going to be as God's. You're going to
know good and evil. You're going to benefit. You'll
benefit by disobeying God. I'm telling you. I'm telling
you the truth. Satan told her. Right now, man is born in this
world hearing the demands of absolute righteousness before
God. Obedience, obedience. That's
the price. That's the price. And man will
say, all you've got to do, be sincere, get in the right church,
keep the Ten Commandments, do the best you can, walk down an
aisle, be baptized. And man thinks like Satan. How does Satan? Isaiah 14, I'll
read this to you. Isaiah 14, here's Satan's. It's where we get free will,
right here. Isaiah 14, 12 to 14. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground, which disweakened the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart," now you listen to this, this is where man gets
it, "'I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. What's the price of a man's soul? Absolute obedience, holiness,
and man believing that he has the ability to do something. And men tell him, this is all
you got to do. And then when he does it, what
do you got to do? Just walk down the aisle. You know the difference from
right back there to right here? I'd guess about 30 feet. That's the difference, that back
door here right here. I'm not too far off from that, about
30 feet. But concerning a man's soul, no man can. Man says, I can. And he believes himself to be
the great negotiator of his salvation by his works and by his choice. And men are told every day, you
made a wise choice and you've negotiated your salvation and
you got it at a cheap price. All I had to do, I'm going to
say the first time I ever walked down the aisle, I was probably
14, about 14 years old. You know what I had to do to
get saved, Kevin? I had to walk down the aisle, and I had to
repeat what a man told me. He told me first what to say,
and all I had to do was say it. Then he asked me if I was sincere.
And I was, I thought. And he said, you're saved. You're
saved. And all you got to do now is
just be baptized. He said, now, you don't believe
God lied to you, do you? And I said, no, I don't think so.
Can you imagine? That's all it cost me. That's
all it cost. And once I was saved, I was always
saved. That's what he told me. I thought I made a pretty good
deal. A lot of people that didn't do
what I did, I didn't do much. but at least I believed. At least
I walked down the aisle. A lot of people wouldn't walk
down the aisle, but I did. And you listen to me. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, in thy name cast
out devils, in thy name done many wonderful works? And the
Lord will say, and I read these words and I think, but for the
grace of God, I think to myself, if I heard
these words, I don't even know what to think.
I never knew you. To hear him say to me, Marvin,
I never knew you. Depart from me, you worker of iniquity. But let me ask you this. Is there
any hope for a sinner? Is there any hope for a sinner?
I'm going to tell you something. I got some good news. I got some
good news for you. Here's my last point. God in
Christ can be just in dealing with sin. and can justify a sinner. Here's the good news. I got some
good news for every sinner made to see his name in need of a
savior. Listen to these blessed words.
Deliver him. From going down to the pit, I
found a ransom. I found a ransom. Take me out of the equation of
trying to please God, because I'm going to tell you something.
By the grace of God, I think, I think God's given me enough
sense to know I'm not going to please Him. I'm not going to
please Him. I found a ransom. And listen
to this. Let me tell you about this ransom.
It's a ransom in whom God is well pleased. It's a ransom who
has met and paid the price of redemption. It's a ransom who satisfied every
demand of the law for justice by being made sin for his people
and suffering the penalty of the law for disobedience. He
suffered it. What? He died. He died. Almighty God has a people, a
people that He's everlastingly loved, a people that couldn't
pay, couldn't pay the debt, couldn't pay the price. There's the price. He couldn't pay. And Almighty
God in mercy and grace taught them. You can't pay. I'm going to tell you something
right now. I'll go ahead and tell you. I can't pay. A ransom though who answered
every demand of God's law for righteousness by his holy obedience. And it was a ransom who never
sought a compromise to the price demanded for his people's redemption. Here's the price. Here's the
price. Holiness. Holiness. And Almighty God. Almighty God. was made flesh and dwelt among
us. And for a people everlastingly
loved, He paid. What did it cost? It cost Him
everything. Everything. He did not ask for
one deduction off the price. Listen to these words, Oh my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup What was the cup? Being made sin. That's the cup. If it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. Here's what he said. I'll pay. What's it going to cost? A ransom. who put his people
in remembrance of his mercy and compassion to them by taking
away that which they deserved, condemnation. Now you listen
to this, Isaiah 51, 22, Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and
thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people. Behold, I have
taken thine hand, I've taken out of thine hand the cup of
trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury, thou shalt
no more drink it again. He said, what was demanded of
you? Absolute obedience, absolute holiness. I'll pay. I'll pay. The price of a man's
soul. obedience to God's law, holiness
before the Lord. It never changed. It never changed. Because God doesn't change. Christ
paid the price, finished the Father's work of redemption. Every demand met by Christ. And
now, needy sinner, You who cannot pay. The price don't change. This is the price. It don't change. It don't change. What can I do? What can I do? Last scripture. John 7. John
chapter 7. Verse 37, 38. In the last day. that great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, if any man thirst, I'm gonna tell you something
right now. If any man thirst for acceptance with God, he's
done so being made willing in the day of God's power, because
I'm gonna tell you something, that's not a natural thirst. If any
man thirst Let Him come unto me and drink. Just drink. Do you realize that if I can
drink tonight by faith, it's by the grace of God, that I can
drink. You know, you can't explain that
to somebody that the Spirit of God hadn't revealed it to. He
that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out
of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Isaiah 55, I got to read this. Verse one. Ho, everyone that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, he that hath no money, You know,
all that try to pay is going to perish. All that try to pay
is going to perish. All that cannot pay. And Almighty
God teaches them they can't pay. And gives them a heart to cast
themselves upon the mercy of God. In Christ, the one who has
paid. and then gives them salvation.
Man by nature is trying to buy it. And almighty God paid the
price and gave it to them. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the water. See that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without
money and without price. The price of a man's soul is
going to have to please God. You can't pay. You try to pay. And almighty God will put you
in hell. You try to pay. Cast yourself upon the mercy
of God in Christ. I love that song. Jesus paid
it all. All to him I owe. Sin left a crimson stain. He
washed it white as snow. Lord, bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake. Amen.